Technologies

I Took the iPhone 15 Pro Max and 13 Pro Max to Yosemite for a Camera Test

Do the latest Apple phone and cameras capture the epic majesty of Yosemite National Park better than a two-year-old iPhone? We find out.

This past week, I took Apple’s new iPhone 15 Pro Max on an epic adventure to California’s Yosemite National Park.

As a professional photographer, I take tens of thousands of photos every year. Much of my work is done inside my San Francisco photo studio, but I also spend a considerable amount of time shooting on location. I still use a DSLR, but my iPhone 13 Pro is never far from me.

Like most people nowadays, I don’t upgrade my phone every year or even two. Phones have reached a point where they are good at performing daily tasks for three or four years. And most phone cameras are sufficient for capturing everyday special moments to post on social media or share with friends.

Taft Point at sunset, shot on iPhone 15 Pro Max

But maybe, like me, you’re in the mood for something shiny and new like the iPhone 15 Pro Max. I wanted to find out how my 2-year-old iPhone 13 Pro and its 3x optical zoom would do against the 15 Pro Max and its new 5x optical zoom. And what better place to take them than on an epic adventure to Yosemite, one of the crown jewels of America’s National Park System and an iconic destination for outdoor lovers.

Yosemite is absolutely, massively impressive.

The main camera is still the best camera

The iPhone 15 Pro Max’s main camera with its wide angle lens is the most important camera on the phone. It has a new larger 48-megapixel sensor that had no problem being my daily workhorse for a week.

Sunrise at Tunnel View in Yosemite National Park

The larger sensor means the camera can now capture more light and render colors more accurately. And the improvements are visible. Not only do photos look richer in bright light but also in low-light scenarios.

In the images below, taken at sunrise at Tunnel View in Yosemite National Park, notice how the 15 Pro Max’s photo has better fidelity, color and contrast in the foreground leaves. Compare that against the pronounced edge sharpening of the mountaintops in the 13 Pro image.

The 15 Pro Max’s camera captures excellent detail in bright light, including more texture, like in rocky landscapes, more detail in the trees and more fine-grained color.

A new 15 Pro Max feature aimed at satisfying a camera nerd’s creative itch uses the larger main sensor combined with the A17 Pro chip to turn the 24mm equivalent wide angle lens into essentially four lenses. You can switch the main camera between 1x, 1.2x, 1.5x and 2x, the equivalent of 24mm, 28mm, 35mm and 50mm prime lens – four of the most popular prime lens lengths. In reality, the 15 Pro Max takes crops of the sensor and using some clever processing to correct lens distortion.

In use, it’s nice to have these crop options, but for most people they will likely be of little interest.

Climbers gather around the famous Midnight Lightning boulder

I find the 15 Pro Max’s native 1x view a little wide and enjoy being able to change it to default to 1.5x magnification. I went into Settings, tapped on Camera, then on Main Camera and changed the default lens to a 35mm look. Now, every time I open the camera, it’s at 1.5x and I can just focus on framing and taking the photo instead of zooming in.

Another nifty change that I highly recommend is to customize the Action button so that it opens the camera when you long press it. The Action button replaces the switch to mute/silence your phone that has been on every iPhone since the original. You can program the Action button to trigger a handful of features or shortcuts by going into the Settings app and tapping Action button. Once you open the camera, the Action button can double as a physical camera shutter button.

Hibiki managed to climb the incredibly difficult Midnight Lightning boulder, one of the world's most famous bouldering problems

The dynamic range and detail are noticeably better in photos I took with the 15 Pro Max main camera in just about every lighting condition.

There are fewer blown out highlights and nicer, blacker blacks with less noise. In particular, there is more tonal range and detail in the whites. I noticed this particularly when it came to how the 15 Pro Max captured direct sunlight on climbers or in the shadow detail in the rock formations.

Read more: iPhone 15 Pro Max Camera vs. Galaxy S23 Ultra: Smartphone Shootout

Overall, the 15 Pro Max’s main camera is simply far better and consistent at exposures than on the 13 Pro.

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The iPhone 15 Pro Max 5x telephoto camera

Climbers at Swan Slab in the Yosemite Valley. Rich but natural colors and finely rendered textures in the rock.

The iPhone 15 Pro Max has a 5x telephoto camera with an f/2.8 aperture and an equivalent focal length of 120mm.

The 13 Pro’s 3x camera, introduced in 2021, was a huge step up from previous models and still gives zoomed-in images a cinematic feel from the lens’ depth compression. The 15 Pro Max’s longer telephoto lens, combined with a larger sensor, accentuates those cinematic qualities even further, resulting in images with a rich array of color and a wider tonal range.

All this translates to a huge improvement in light capture and a noticeable step up in image quality for the iPhone’s zoom lens.

You can see the improved detail and range evident in the highlights of the water with the iPhone 15 Pro Max, as well as a warmer, more realistic color rendering.

I found that the 15 Pro Max’s telephoto camera yields better photos of subjects farther away like mountains, wildlife and the stage at a live concert.

Shot on iPhone 13 Pro Max at 136mm, left, iPhone 15 Pro Max at 120mm, right, you can see the exposure, range, and natural color rendering improvements on the iPhone 15 Pro Max.

A combination of optical stabilization and 3D sensor-shift make the 15 Pro Max’s tele upgrade experience easier to use by steadying the image capture. A longer lens typically means there’s a greater chance of blurred images due to your hand shaking. Using such a long focal length magnifies every little movement of the camera.

I found that the 3D sensor-shift optical image stabilization system does wonders for shooting distant subjects and minimizing that camera shake.

The image below was shot with the 5x zoom on the iPhone 15 Pro Max looking up the Yosemite Valley from Tunnel View. It is an incredibly crisp telephoto image.

For reference, the image below was shot on the 15 Pro Max from the same location using the ultra Wide lens. I am about five miles away from that V-shaped dip at the end of the valley.

A view of the Yosemite Valley from the Tunnel View observation point, shot on the iPhone 15 Pro Max using the Ultra Wide lens.

The iPhone still suffers from lens flare

Lens flares, along with the green dot that seems to be in all iPhone images taken into direct sunlight, continue to be an issue on the iPhone 15 Pro Max despite the new lens coatings.

Apple says the main camera lens has been treated for anti-glare, but I didn’t notice any improvements. In some cases, images have even greater lens flares than photos from previous iPhone models.

Notice the repeated halo effect surrounding the sun on the images below shot at Lower Yosemite Falls.

As the sun pokes over the top of Dewey Point we seen some lens flare and the 'green dot' appear.

The signature iPhone lens flare dot on the iPhone 15 Pro Max

Lens flare on iPhone 13 Pro Max vs. iPhone 15 Pro Max

The 15 Pro Max and Smart HDR 5

Lower Yosemite Falls, shot on iPhone 15 Pro Max Main camera

The 15 Pro Max’s new A17 Pro chip brings with it greater computational power (Apple calls it Smart HDR 5), which delivers more natural looking images compared with the 13 Pro, especially in very bright and very dark scenes. There is a noticeably better, more subtle handling of color with a less heavy-handed approach that balances between brightening the shadows and darkening highlights.

You can see clearly the warmer, more natural looking light in 15 Pro Max photo below, pushing back against the typical blue light rendering that is common in over-processed HDR images. At the same time, Apple’s implementation hasn’t swayed too far in the opposite direction and refrains from over saturating orange colors that frequently troubles digital corrections on phones.

Coming from an iPhone 13 Pro Max, I noticed the background corrections during computational processing on the 15 Pro Max tend to result in more discrete and balanced images. Apple appears to have dialed back its bombastic pursuit of pushing computational photography right in our faces like with the 13 Pro and fine tuned the 15 Pro Max’s image pipeline to lean toward a more realistic reflection of your subject.

It’s a welcome change.

The 15 Pro Max shines in night mode

Self portrait shot on iPhone 15 Pro Max mounted on a tripod on top of Sentinel Dome in Yosemite National Park.

Night mode shots from the 15 Pro Max look similar to the ones from my 13 Pro Max, but there are minor improvements in the exposure that result in images with a better tonal range. The 15 Pro Max’s larger main camera sensor captures photos with less noise in the blacks and a better overall exposure compared to the 13 Pro Max.

Colors in 15 Pro Max night mode images appear more accurate, realistic, and have a wider dynamic range. Notice the detail in the photo below of El Capitan and The Dawn Wall. The 15 Pro Max even captures detail in the car lights snaking through the valley floor road.

Looking down into the Yosemite Valley from the top of Sentinel Dome at night.

Overall, night mode images continue to look soft and over-processed. Night mode gives snaps a dream-like vibe and that isn’t necessarily a bad thing. These photos are brighter and have less image noise than those shot on my iPhone 13 Pro Max.

Half Dome seen from atop Sentinel Dome at night, shot on iPhone 15 Pro Max Main camera lens, more than an hour and a half after sunset.

15 Pro Max vs. 13 Pro Max: the bottom line

By this point, it should be no surprise that the iPhone 15 Pro Max’s cameras are a significant improvement over the ones on the 13 Pro Max. If photography is a priority for you, I recommend upgrading to it from the 13 Pro Max or earlier.

If you’re coming from an iPhone 14 Pro, the improvements seem less dramatic, and it’s likely not a worth the upgrade. I’m incredibly excited to continue carrying the iPhone 15 Pro Max in my pocket to Yosemite or just around my home.

Technologies

TMR vs. Hall Effect Controllers: Battle of the Magnetic Sensing Tech

The magic of magnets tucked into your joysticks can put an end to drift. But which technology is superior?

Competitive gamers look for every advantage they can get, and that drive has spawned some of the zaniest gaming peripherals under the sun. There are plenty of hardware components that actually offer meaningful edges when implemented properly. Hall effect and TMR (tunnel magnetoresistance or tunneling magnetoresistance) sensors are two such technologies. Hall effect sensors have found their way into a wide variety of devices, including keyboards and gaming controllers, including some of our favorites like the GameSir Super Nova.

More recently, TMR sensors have started to appear in these devices as well. Is it a better technology for gaming? With multiple options vying for your lunch money, it’s worth understanding the differences to decide which is more worthy of living inside your next game controller or keyboard.

How Hall effect joysticks work

We’ve previously broken down the difference between Hall effect tech and traditional potentiometers in controller joysticks, but here’s a quick rundown on how Hall effect sensors work. A Hall effect joystick moves a magnet over a sensor circuit, and the magnetic field affects the circuit’s voltage. The sensor in the circuit measures these voltage shifts and maps them to controller inputs. Element14 has a lovely visual explanation of this effect here.

The advantage this tech has over potentiometer-based joysticks used in controllers for decades is that the magnet and sensor don’t need to make physical contact. There’s no rubbing action to slowly wear away and degrade the sensor. So, in theory, Hall effect joysticks should remain accurate for the long haul.

How TMR joysticks work

While TMR works differently, it’s a similar concept to Hall effect devices. When you move a TMR joystick, it moves a magnet in the vicinity of the sensor. So far, it’s the same, right? Except with TMR, this shifting magnetic field changes the resistance in the sensor instead of the voltage.

There’s a useful demonstration of a sensor in action here. Just like Hall effect joysticks, TMR joysticks don’t rely on physical contact to register inputs and therefore won’t suffer the wear and drift that affects potentiometer-based joysticks.

Which is better, Hall effect or TMR?

There’s no hard and fast answer to which technology is better. After all, the actual implementation of the technology and the hardware it’s built into can be just as important, if not more so. Both technologies can provide accurate sensing, and neither requires physical contact with the sensing chip, so both can be used for precise controls that won’t encounter stick drift. That said, there are some potential advantages to TMR.

According to Coto Technology, who, in fairness, make TMR sensors, they can be more sensitive, allowing for either greater precision or the use of smaller magnets. Since the Hall effect is subtler, it relies on amplification and ultimately requires extra power. While power requirements vary from sensor to sensor, GameSir claims its TMR joysticks use about one-tenth the power of mainstream Hall effect joysticks. Cherry is another brand highlighting the lower power consumption of TMR sensors, albeit in the brand’s keyboard switches.

The greater precision is an opportunity for TMR joysticks to come out ahead, but that will depend more on the controller itself than the technology. Strange response curves, a big dead zone (which shouldn’t be needed), or low polling rates could prevent a perfectly good TMR sensor from beating a comparable Hall effect sensor in a better optimized controller.

The power savings will likely be the advantage most of us really feel. While it won’t matter for wired controllers, power savings can go a long way for wireless ones. Take the Razer Wolverine V3 Pro, for instance, a Hall effect controller offering 20 hours of battery life from a 4.5-watt-hour battery with support for a 1,000Hz polling rate on a wireless connection. Razer also offers the Wolverine V3 Pro 8K PC, a near-identical controller with the same battery offering TMR sensors. They claim the TMR version can go for 36 hours on a charge, though that’s presumably before cranking it up to an 8,000Hz polling rate — something Razer possibly left off the Hall effect model because of power usage.

The disadvantage of the TMR sensor would be its cost, but it appears that it’s negligible when factored into the entire price of a controller. Both versions of the aforementioned Razer controller are $199. Both 8BitDo and GameSir have managed to stick them into reasonably priced controllers like the 8BitDo Ultimate 2, GameSir G7 Pro and GameSir Cyclone 2.

So which wins?

It seems TMR joysticks have all the advantages of Hall effect joysticks and then some, bringing better power efficiency that can help in wireless applications. The one big downside might be price, but from what we’ve seen right now, that doesn’t seem to be much of an issue. You can even find both technologies in controllers that cost less than some potentiometer models, like the Xbox Elite Series 2 controller.

Caveats to consider

For all the hype, neither Hall effect nor TMR joysticks are perfect. One of their key selling points is that they won’t experience stick drift, but there are still elements of the joystick that can wear down. The ring around the joystick can lose its smoothness. The stick material can wear down (ever tried to use a controller with the rubber worn off its joystick? It’s not pleasant). The linkages that hold the joystick upright and the springs that keep it stiff can loosen, degrade and fill with dust. All of these can impact the continued use of the joystick, even if the Hall effect or TMR sensor itself is in perfect operating order.

So you might not get stick drift from a bad sensor, but you could get stick drift from a stick that simply doesn’t return to its original resting position. That’s when having a controller that’s serviceable or has swappable parts, like the PDP Victrix Pro BFG, could matter just as much as having one with Hall effect or TMR joysticks.

Technologies

Today’s NYT Connections: Sports Edition Hints and Answers for Feb. 18, #513

Here are hints and the answers for the NYT Connections: Sports Edition puzzle for Feb. 18, No. 513.

Looking for the most recent regular Connections answers? Click here for today’s Connections hints, as well as our daily answers and hints for The New York Times Mini Crossword, Wordle and Strands puzzles.

Today’s Connections: Sports Edition has a fun yellow category that might just start you singing. If you’re struggling with today’s puzzle but still want to solve it, read on for hints and the answers.

Connections: Sports Edition is published by The Athletic, the subscription-based sports journalism site owned by The Times. It doesn’t appear in the NYT Games app, but it does in The Athletic’s own app. Or you can play it for free online.

Read more: NYT Connections: Sports Edition Puzzle Comes Out of Beta

Hints for today’s Connections: Sports Edition groups

Here are four hints for the groupings in today’s Connections: Sports Edition puzzle, ranked from the easiest yellow group to the tough (and sometimes bizarre) purple group.

Yellow group hint: I don’t care if I never get back.

Green group hint: Get that gold medal.

Blue group hint: Hoops superstar.

Purple group hint: Not front, but…

Answers for today’s Connections: Sports Edition groups

Yellow group: Heard in «Take Me Out to the Ball Game.»

Green group: Olympic snowboarding events.

Blue group: Vince Carter, informally.

Purple group: ____ back.

Read more: Wordle Cheat Sheet: Here Are the Most Popular Letters Used in English Words

What are today’s Connections: Sports Edition answers?

The yellow words in today’s Connections

The theme is heard in «Take Me Out to the Ball Game.» The four answers are Cracker Jack, home team, old ball game and peanuts.

The green words in today’s Connections

The theme is Olympic snowboarding events. The four answers are big air, giant slalom, halfpipe and slopestyle.

The blue words in today’s Connections

The theme is Vince Carter, informally. The four answers are Air Canada, Half-Man, Half-Amazing, VC and Vinsanity.

The purple words in today’s Connections

The theme is ____ back. The four answers are diamond, drop, quarter and razor.

Technologies

Today’s NYT Mini Crossword Answers for Wednesday, Feb. 18

Here are the answers for The New York Times Mini Crossword for Feb. 18.

Looking for the most recent Mini Crossword answer? Click here for today’s Mini Crossword hints, as well as our daily answers and hints for The New York Times Wordle, Strands, Connections and Connections: Sports Edition puzzles.

Today’s Mini Crossword is a fun one, and it’s not terribly tough. It helps if you know a certain Olympian. Read on for all the answers. And if you could use some hints and guidance for daily solving, check out our Mini Crossword tips.

If you’re looking for today’s Wordle, Connections, Connections: Sports Edition and Strands answers, you can visit CNET’s NYT puzzle hints page.

Read more: Tips and Tricks for Solving The New York Times Mini Crossword

Let’s get to those Mini Crossword clues and answers.